Remembrance
by bcsbookworm
Summary: Two of the Guardians recall their first encounters with Jack Frost, but all four remember, and all vow to never make him feel alone again.


**I do not own the Guardians.**

Jack watched as North carved a chunk of ice into a castle. He leaned back against the window pane, cradling the mug of hot chocolate to his chest. His staff leaned lazily against the wall beside him, and he was content to sit and watch and drink.

North looked up from carving a turret and raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"What are you thinking about, Jack?" North asked.

"Not a lot," Jack replied. "North . . . do you remember the first time we met?"

North laughed and put his carving tools down.

"Do I remember the first time I met you?" North asked. "I remember every single time we've met."

Jack chuckled. "That's not necessarily a good thing now is it?"

"There's a reason why you're on the naught list."

Jack grinned and got up, moving over to the table closes to the fireplace where a jug of hot chocolate was kept hot. He poured more drink into his mug and poured a mug for North as the Christmas Spirit strolled over to him.

"I was a bit of a rascal then wasn't I?" Jack questioned.

"Was? You're still are." North clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Though, I suppose, you're a good rascal.

U U U U

_Jack moved cautiously through the house, studying everything with intensity. He'd noticed, several weeks ago, the families of Burgess acting strangely. They'd starting hanging up long green things they called Garland and wrapping bows around them along with bells and other such things. Some families even went so far as cutting down small evergreens and bringing them into their homes and decorating them. Adults had gone away for a day or two and returned with brown paper packages tied up with strings, and hid them from the children who went about trying to find the packages._

_It was all very strange and Jack wasn't about to let these humans get by without some sort of explanation._

_He gently touched a string of what someone had called a popcorn string and the poked another ornament. What exactly was going on?_

_Suddenly he heard bells. Sleigh bells. He moved to a window and looked out toward MiM and watched as a shadow passed over the moon before moving away quickly and making its way toward the village. Jack watched, awe filled, as a sleigh came into view pulled by eight reindeer with a large—quite literally—man steering the sleigh._

_The man steered the sleigh to the center of the village and landed it, jumping out and grabbing a large sack. He made his way towards a house and entered. Jack immediately left the house and flew across the street to the house the man had entered. Jack peered through the window, his breath making light frost on the glass. He watched as the man, dressed in a red coat line with brown fur, went about stuffing the fancy stockings hanging over the fireplace with small toys and candy before placing some gifts under the tree. Jack flew around the corner of the house and watched the man exit the house and enter another._

_Jack flew to the sleigh. The reindeer eyed him distrustfully and Jack sat within the sleigh, looking it over. It was large, big enough to carry several people, and it was highly cared for and polished. He gently knocked on the wood. Solid oak. Fine craftsmanship. Jack couldn't help by admire it._

_"Excuse me? What are you doing in my sleigh, child?" Jack jumped up, a bit startled, and flew to the other side of the sleigh. He turned, gripping his staff tightly as he met the gaze of the man. The man looked equally as startled._

_"You can see me?" Jack whispered._

_"Of course I can," the man replied, his voice thick with some sort of accent. "I am North, the spirit of Christmas!"_

_Christmas. The name niggled as Jack's mind, but he couldn't place it. But with it came a sense of warmth and happiness and kindness._

_"I'm Jack Frost," Jack replied. "I'm a winter spirit. Or . . . at least I suppose I'm a winter spirit since I make it snow and frost and all."_

_"How long have you been around?" North asked._

_"Not long," Jack said._

_"Well come along. Let me show you what I do!" North motioned for Jack to follow him and Jack did so, a bit warily. They entered the house that Jack had left and North made his way to the lone stocking above the fireplace. He looked at it and sighed quietly._

_"What is it?" Jack asked, peering at the fancy stocking._

_"There's one missing," North replied. He put his sack down and crossed to a door. Jack peeked around North as the spirit opened the door. Inside there were three people. Two, a man and woman, slept together on one bed while a very thin set of planks and sheets made a small bedroom for another person, a little girl. She slept on a bed that looked like it was meant for two, and North frowned before closing the door._

_"What's wrong?" Jack asked._

_"There are supposed to be two children in this house," North said. "I suspect something bad happened." He moved back to the stocking and dug through the sack before putting in a few pieces of candy and a nice porcelain doll. Jack stared at the doll for a moment before watching as North placed presents under the tree._

_"So you give presents," Jack said, following North out._

_"I give much more than that," North replied. "The Man in the Moon has created all of us spirits, but there are some of us who he has chosen to guard the children of this world—as long as they believe in us."_

_"Believe in you?" Jack asked, make frost patterns on the ground._

_"Yes. A child who believes in me will be able to see me." Jack frowned._

_"No one believes in me," Jack muttered. "They just walk right through me."_

_"Well not all spirits are believed in," North replied. "But, MiM creates them for a reason, so I am of the belief that at one point, all the spirits will be believed in. Your time will come."_

_"I just wish it'd come quicker," Jack muttered._

_"Enough of the depressing thoughts," North cried heading to another house. "Why don't you cheer up the children of this village with a white Christmas, eh? Do what you do best." Jack grinned and shot up into the air, twirling his staff and creating snow following heavily, but nicely. The reindeer snorted at the snow and pawed the ground anxiously. Jack flew to and fro, creating ice and patterns of frost along the windows and ground. North slipped slightly on the way back to his sleigh._

_"Be careful with that ice!" North called. Jack laughed and did several flips. North shook his head and climbed into his sleigh. With words and a snap of the reins, the sleigh was airborne. Jack laughed and sent a gust of snow at North and North turned, giving him a slight disapproving look before chuckling and disappearing into the night._

U U U U

Tooth, North, Sandy, and Bunnymund watched with much amusement and some parental care at Jack and Baby Tooth as they attempted to play a game of tag between the two of them throughout the workshop. The four Guardians leaned back in their chairs and sipped at their hot chocolate and eggnog.

"I'm glad Baby Tooth had bonded with someone," Tooth said. "She is the smallest of my fairies and never seemed the strongest. I always made sure that her rounds were the closes to the palace but . . . ." she smiled toward the playing pair. "Jack seems to have made her stronger."

"I'm glad Jack's bonded with someone," North said. "Though I must admit he is warming up to the rest of us. I thought that after Pitch, everything would be golden but, of course, after three hundred years of being on his own, Jack isn't quite used to having others watching out or caring for him."

Sandy nodded in agreement.

"Aye, he's stuck in that stage of life anyway," Bunny replied. "I suppose I wasn't much better when I was that age. Hopping and jumping about and getting into stuff I wasn't supposed to. That's what adolescent is all about."

"But there's much more to learn there too," Tooth reminded Bunny. "About responsibility and friendship and loyalty."

"Those last two you can learn no matter how young or old you are," North told them. "And I think Jack is starting to learn about responsibility. Though he's new. It'll take time. I have faith in him."

Sandy sat in a chair with a mug of hot chocolate and peered over the steaming drink at Jack as he caught Baby Tooth and pretended to attempt to stuff her in his pocket. He grinned and took a sip of the drink. It was so good to see Jack smiling and laughing. The first time he'd met Jack, the boy had been far from happy.

U U U U

_Sandy floated over the town in northern Maine. Winter was hard pressed on the Mainers, he could see piles of snow everywhere. North had told him of a new spirit, Jack Frost, who helped the snow and ice. He wondered if he were here or if he were in another part of the world where snow was needed._

_He watched as his golden sand spread far and wide. He made a point of visiting a different town or city each night when he sent his dreams worldwide. It was always nice to float around and see the children dreaming happily._

_However, he felt a fearful presence of dreams. He looked around and noticed a forest nearby where the presence was coming from. It wasn't extremely powerful, but enough to tell him that someone was having a nightmare. But who could be out and about in the Maine woods in the middle of December?_

_He flew to the trees, immediately feeling the presence of fear. He looked around. Pitch wasn't very strong, but he was able to (at times) send nightmares to a few people throughout the world. Sandy quickly found the person, who ended up not being a person at all. Sandy immediately thought that this must be the new spirit, Jack Frost, North had talked about. He certainly fit the description._

_But what about this nightmare?_

_Sandy watched as an image of Jack appeared in black sand and was immediately run through by several children. Then a shadow loomed up over Jack and swallowed him, even as the sand figure screamed. Sandy scowled and tossed golden sand over the spirit, melting away the nightmare._

_But Jack didn't fall into a restful sleep._

_He opened his eyes and gasped, grabbed his staff and pointed it at Sandy. Sandy created a STOP sign over his head. Jack didn't shoot anything at him with the staff, but he still continued to eye Sandy warily._

_"Who are you?" Jack demanded._

_Sandy showed a picture of sand and a man._

_"The Sandman?"Jack asked. Sandy nodded and smiled brightly. Jack chuckled. Sandy floated closer and put a question mark above his head._

_"My dream?" Jack asked. "It's nothing." Sandy shook his head. Jack scowled and turned away._

_"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped. Sandy looked sad for a moment before tapping Jack on the shoulder and holding out a palmful of sand. Jack bit his lip, looking longingly at the sand._

_"All right," Jack whispered. "Please, Sandman." Sandy tossed the sand over Jack's head and he immediately closed his eyes, settling back down in a sleep. Sand dolphins immediately began to jump around Jack's head and Sandy took several more minutes to stare serenely at the newest spirit before he floated away._

_His job for the night was done._

U U U U

This probably was the reason why Sandy had never had the same problems with Jack that the other Guardians had had. Jack had always played nicely with him, never disrupting him when he was at work, and sometimes even helped to point out when a child was having really awful nightmares.

Although Jack has also made it a habit to hide from Sandy whenever he wanted to go to sleep. Spirits didn't technically need sleep, but it was a treat if they were able to get some. Sandy got up and floated to the hot chocolate jug to refill his mug.

Jack and Baby Tooth finally came over and Jack accepted a mug of the hot liquid. He caught Sandy's eye.

"What?" Jack asked. Sandy grinned and shrugged, floating back to his seat.

"So how's living with North?" Bunny asked Jack.

"It's good," Jack replied. "Different."

"Different?" Tooth asked. "What do you mean?"

"I get to see others like me," Jack answered. "I get to see . . . I mean . . . I'm not alone anymore." Baby Tooth chirped at Jack and he grinned.

"Yes, Baby Tooth. I was a bit alone." Baby Tooth snuggled up on Jack's shoulder. Jack grinned and laughed into his mug. The other four Guardians shared looks between each other. Yes, they could all remember their encounters with this lovable, semi-bratty winter spirit. And they weren't about to stop making them.

**Not entirely happy with the ending. But please let me know what you think!**


End file.
